As you know, or should know, I LOVE TWIRLING (or turning or pirouetting or fouetté-ing; same difference). I love the act of perfect timing with precision to make your body flow in a circular motion. In some ways, I think it's the same thing as magic. Turning is an art form within an art form (that is ballet). It is something mastered through lots and lots of practice. It's not something someone can be born with, like high arches or flexibility. Sure there could be some people who are naturally more coordinated to make turning a smidge easier, but all in all, HARD WORK AND DEDICATION. Anyway, since it's Tuesday aka #turningtuesday aka #twirlingtuesday, we thought it'd be great to share some top secret tips gathered through the years.

set your mind to it and don't overthink it

The most common problem I see among people is that they overthink it. Sometimes you just need to LET IT GOOO LET IT GOOOO. Stop being so tense! It'll get to the point(e) of practice when you don't even realize what you're doing anymore and you stop being afraid. (Yes, turning is strangely a daunting task.) The secret to accomplishing this is simple: turn turn turn. Don't think, just turn. Try practicing on slippery floors with slippery shoes (like indoor slippers). After turning in awful circumstances (echm when you feel like you're going to fall on your face), the studios will seem like a piece of cake!

timing

This is a bit more difficult to explain. Turns are all about timing. If your body manages to time it just right, then you'll end up with a great pirouette. But if it's even the slightest bit off, things can get messy. This is something that you figure out with practice. Experiment! What if... I try closing my arms slower? Or if I leave my head just that much more before I spot? Or I lift my passé a little faster? You could ask your teachers or friends to check for mistakes as well.

focus on one thing at a time

Unfortunately, we're only human. This means we can only focus on one task at a time. We could try thinking of ten things at once in a span of two seconds, but what are the chances that we'll actually succeed in doing all the things? Probably not very high. Focus on one thing and make sure you do that one thing FLAWLESSLY. For example, "I'm going to spot my head."

it's not about the number of turns you do

I don't know about you, but when I think, "I must do x-amount of turns," I end up failing more often than not. Yes, you need to set your mind to it (cough first tip), but the amount of turns you do isn't the most important thing. If you're too busy thinking of a number, your body forgets about everything else, aka all those corrections we JUST tried fixing. It's important to have a goal in mind, but it's more important to have a correction in mind.

wear the twirlings merch

This is (OBVIOUSLY) the most important task of all. For some odd reason, I always turn better when I'm wearing my Fouetté pullover. Maybe it's because it gives me a sassy confidence boost. Or MAYBE it's because there's magic in the products. Regardless, having a warmup to keep your turns alive is a MUST. (Shop all of our products HERE! <333)

do you have secrets to perfecting your pirouettes? did our tips help your turns? let us know in the comments!